104510 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 246 / Monday, December 23, 2024 / Proposed Rules 

1 89 FR 85462 (Oct. 28, 2024). 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

49 CFR Part 236 

[Docket No. FRA–2023–0064, Notice No. 2] 

RIN 2130–AC95 

Positive Train Control Systems 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking 

(NPRM); extension of comment period. 

SUMMARY: On October 28, 2024, FRA 

published an NPRM proposing to 

amend certain regulations governing 

positive train control (PTC) systems. 

Through oversight and continued 

engagement with the industry, FRA has 

found that its existing PTC regulations 

do not adequately address temporary 

situations during which PTC technology 

is not enabled, including after certain 

initialization failures or in cases where 

a PTC system needs to be temporarily 

disabled to facilitate repair, 

maintenance, infrastructure upgrades, or 

capital projects. FRA expects PTC 

systems to be reliable and robust, 

further reducing the occurrence of 

initialization failures and outages. The 

NPRM proposes to establish strict 

parameters and operating restrictions 

under which railroads may continue to 

operate safely in certain necessary 

scenarios when PTC technology is 

temporarily not governing rail 

operations. By this notice, FRA is 

extending the NPRM’s comment period, 

which will close on December 27, 2024, 

by 15 days. 

DATES: The comment period for the 

proposed rule published October 28, 

2024, at 89 FR 85462, is extended. 

Comments should be received on or 

before January 11, 2025. 

ADDRESSES: 

Comments: Comments related to 

Docket No. FRA–2023–0064, Notice No. 

1, may be submitted by going to https:// 

www.regulations.gov and following the 

online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

Instructions: All submissions must 

include the agency name, docket name, 

and docket number or Regulatory 

Identification Number (RIN) for this 

rulemaking (2130–AC95). Note that all 

comments received will be posted 

without change to https://

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided. Please 

see the Privacy Act heading in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document for Privacy Act 

information related to any submitted 

comments or materials. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to https://

www.regulations.gov and follow the 

online instructions for accessing the 

docket. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Gabe Neal, Staff Director, Signal, Train 

Control, and Crossings Division, 

telephone: 816–516–7168, email: 

Gabe.Neal@dot.gov; or Senya Waas, 

Senior Attorney Adviser, telephone: 

202–875–4158, email: Senya.Waas@

dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a 

November 13, 2024, letter, the American 

Short Line and Regional Railroad 

Association (ASLRRA) requested a 60- 

day extension of the NPRM’s comment 

period.1 ASLRRA stated it needed 

sufficient time to review the proposed 

rule and its impact on its member 

railroads that are directly and indirectly 

subject to the PTC mandate. In addition, 

in a November 25, 2024, letter, the 

Association of American Railroads 

(AAR) also requested a 60-day extension 

of the NPRM’s comment period, in order 

for its members to have adequate time 

to review the proposed rule. 

The comment period for this NPRM is 

scheduled to close on December 27, 

2024. As FRA is granting an extension 

in response to ASLRRA’s and AAR’s 

requests, the comment period is now 

extended to January 11, 2024, which is 

a total of 15 days. Although ASLRRA 

and AAR each requested a 60-day 

extension, FRA believes that a 15-day 

extension will provide sufficient time 

for ASLRRA, AAR, and other interested 

parties to review the NPRM. 

Privacy Act 

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), 

DOT solicits comments from the public 

to better inform its rulemaking process. 

DOT posts these comments, without 

edit, to www.regulations.gov, as 

described in the system of records 

notice, DOT/ALL–14 FDMS, accessible 

through www.dot.gov/privacy. To 

facilitate comment tracking and 

response, we encourage commenters to 

provide their name, or the name of their 

organization; however, submission of 

names is completely optional. Whether 

or not commenters identify themselves, 

all timely comments will be fully 

considered. If you wish to provide 

comments containing proprietary or 

confidential information, please contact 

the agency for alternate submission 

instructions. 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 20103, 20107, 20133, 

20141, 20302–20303, 20306, 20701–20702, 

21301–21302, 21304; 28 U.S.C. 2461, note; 

and 49 CFR 1.89. 

Issued in Washington, DC. 

Allison Ishihara Fultz, 

Chief Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2024–30594 Filed 12–20–24; 8:45 am] 

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